Vest-protector



(ModeL) T. s. BEALS VEST PRQTEUTUR- Paten ted June so, 1885.

. INVENTOR fi WITNESSES:

w g M ATTORNEYS.

PATENT- Prion.

THOMAS S. BEALS, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

VEST-PROTECTO R.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 321,177, dated June 30, 1885.

' Application filed June 24, 1884. (MOIIUL) .To all whom it may concern.- 1

Be it known that I, THOMAS S. BEALS, of Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented a new and Improved Vest-Protector, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention consists in a novel attachment to a gentlemans vest to protect the vest from wear or from being soiled. Said attachment, which is made readilyadjustable or removable, as required,will be found especially useful to bookkeepers,accountants,and others engaged in writing at the table or desk; but it may also be used under other circumstances to protect the vest from wear or being soiled.

The attachment is made of or from one or more pieces of cloth or other fabric, either of the same material as the vest it is designed to be applied to or of different material, fashioned so as to extend for any desired length or distance down the front of the vest or the side of the front thereof most exposed to wear, and provided with means for removably applying it to the vest-as, for instance, with button-holes arranged to engage with the buttons of the vest. It maybe made of various designs or patterns, artistic or otherwise, of any desired width,and with or without a fly to cover the buttons of the vest and to give it an extended protecting surface, substantially as hereinafter described.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 represents a front view of a mans vest buttoned or closed with my protector in one of its forms applied thereto; and Figs. 2, 3, and 4, views in perspective of the protector detached under certain of several other different shapes or forms of construction.

In Fig. 1 A indicates the vest, and b b the buttons by which it is closed. B in said figure is the protector in its plainest form, the same merely consisting of a strip of cloth or other fabric of either single or double thickness, and of a length or depth and width to cover only the lower portion of the front of the vest, principally or wholly on its left-hand side, which side and portion would be the most exposed to wear or being soiled by a right-handed person writing at the desk. It

dinally of the protector,or partly in one of said directions and partly in the other direction; but it is preferred to arrange them longitudinall y of the strip or protector, as by so doing and by making said button-holes of sufficient length the same protector may be applied to different vests having their buttons 1) at different distances apart.

The plain style of protector shown in Fig. 1 is best adapted to vests which have buttons 1) of horn, metal,or other material not liable to soil and but little liable to wear when exposed. WVhen it is desirable that the buttons 1) should not be exposed through the protectoras,for instance, when said buttons are made of or covered with cloth or other material liable to soil or wear, then the protector B may be made with a fly, 6, arranged to cover the but tons, as shown in Fig. 2.

If desired, the protector, when constructed without a fly, as in Fig. 1, may be of such width and its button-holes be so arranged intermediately of its width to give it a wide lap on the right-hand side of the vest, as well as on the left-hand side thereof, or, in other words, on both sides of the buttons; or, again, when the protector is constructed with a fly,as described with reference to Fig.2, then said fly e, as shown in Fig. 3, may be of a width to not only cover the buttons, but to also protect the right-hand side portion of the front of the vest; or the right-hand side portion of the vest may be protected by a suitable extension to the right of the main body of the protector, and the fly e merely be of sufficient width to fully cover the buttons, as shown in Fig. 4.

There are various other modifications, which it is not necessary here to enumerate; and if the protector be made of sufficient width to answer the purpose of a napkin, then the outside four corners of it may either be provided with button-holes at said corners to engage with special buttons on the vest, or be other wise provided with means for holding said parts up to or against the vest.

If desired, the protector may be made cheaply from scraps or waste pieces of cloth or material, either of the same or different color as the vest.

I am aware that a childs single-breasted coat has been provided with a detachable front piece provided on its vertical edges with fastenings adapted to engage two vertical rows of fastenings on opposite sides of the ordinary buttons of the said coat; also, that a chestprotecting vest has been made with a separate front and back chamois-pad lined with cotton and held in position on the vest by buttons or fastenings on the margin of the said front and back pads and those parts of the vest adjacent thereto, and I claim no such construction as of my invention. In neither of the above gar ments was there a protector for said garment adapted to be secured to the ordinary buttons of the garment,and I am not aware thata vest has ever been provided with a protector having a vertical series of button-holes for engaging the ordinary buttons that secure the vest on the body. 7

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. As anew article of manufacture, a protector for vests consisting of a piece of fabric, B, provided with a vertical series of buttonholes, a, corresponding with and adapted to engage the ordinary buttons, b,on a vest, substantially as set forth.

2. In a protector for vests, a protector, B, composed of one or more thicknesses of fabric and provided with a vertical series of buttonholes corresponding with and adapted to engage the ordinary buttons of a vest, and a fly secured to the fabric to cover the buttonholes, whereby fabric-covered buttons on the vest are protected from wear, substantially as r set forth.

THOMAS S. BEALS. Witnesses:

PETER YOUNG,

PETER RUSH. 

